Arts & Culture

This week's feature highlights the autobiographical tale of John Lewis, a prominent civil rights activist in the twentieth century. Written as a graphic novel, March follows Lewis' life throughout the 1960's and into his prominence as a US Congressman. It is the first of a trilogy completed in August 2016. West Lafayette Public Library Director Nick Schenkel has a review.

Passionate Pilgrim is a "rock-infused song cycle" with Baroque instrumentation created by composer/performer collective Oracle Hysterical. This new release, out on VIA Records March 17, features Oracle Hysterical with Juilliard-trained period ensemble New Vintage Baroque. While texts from the album are drawn from The Passionate Pilgrim, a poem cycle once attributed to “W. Shakespeare,” WBAA Music Director John Clare thinks Keats is appropriate to describe this amazing new album: "with voice sweetly bland." Clare spoke to Majel Connery from Oracle Hysterical about Passionate Pilgrim.

Attention to detail is a gift usually reserved for fictitious characters like Sherlock Holmes, but this week's feature gives you the skills to hone your abilities in real life. Using over 70 pieces of artwork to illustrate detail, author Amy Herman explores how being more observant can improve almost any part of your life. West Lafayette Public Library Director Nick Schenkel has a review.

Dr. Mo Trout leads the Purdue Jazz Band for a study abroad trip over spring break next week. The course allows Purdue students "to experience how American music is received and performed in Portugal." WBAA's John Clare spoke with Mo about the trip.

Kodo, a professional taiko company, has popularized modern taiko drumming. They performed in Indiana this last month, and are on a 22 U.S. tour through March 25th. WBAA's John Clare spoke with Yosuke Kusa from the group, with assistance from translator and tour manager Yui Kawamoto.

Co-commissioned by the Canton, Colorado, South Carolina, and Louisville Symphony Orchestras, Juno Concerto was composed in 2015 by Béla Fleck. Named for his son Juno, “every note of the concerto is colored by the experience of being a new father, and how that has changed what is important to me as a person, as well as what I wish to express through music,” says Fleck, who became a father for the first time at 55, with his wife, musician Abigail Washburn.

Purdue University Galleries opens two new exhibits of large scale cut paper works and artworks from the Galleries collection: “Sonja Peterson: Transverse Travesties” and "Color Expressions" through April 22nd. WBAA's John Clare spoke with Craig Martin, director of Purdue Galleries about the openings.

WBAA's John Clare recently spoke with Eric Edberg, cellist of the DePauw Trio, about the Tippecanoe Chamber Music Society next performance, Brahms Fest, Sunday, March 5th at 4:00pm at Purdue University's Fowler Hall in West Lafayette.

Emmet Cahill, award-winning Irish tenor and a principal singer with Celtic Thunder, will perform at Studio 37 in Fishers on Saturday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m. WBAA's John Clare spoke with Emmet about the performance.

Judy Collins has "inspired audiences with sublime vocals, boldly vulnerable songwriting, personal life triumphs, and a firm commitment to social activism." Since the 1960s, she has evoked "idealism and steely determination of a generation united against social and environmental injustices." Five decades later, her presence shines as new generations bask "in her iconic 50-album body of work, and heed inspiration from her spiritual discipline to thrive in the music industry for half a century."